Although it has general utility, the solenoid of this invention was developed particularly for use in combination with the shift control valve conventionally used in automotive transmissions and it is designed particularly to keep the size of the assembly as small as possible so that it will fit conveniently in the restricted space available in that particular environment but at the same time will actuate the armature reliably with requisite force. In addition, the required force is achieved using less wire in the winding of the solenoid coil which further contributes significantly to the miniaturization of the assembly and achieves a significant reduction in the manufacturing cost of the solenoid.